TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: The colourful building blocks or toy houses might keep your children engaged for hours, but the heavy metals they contain could harm them for life. And it’s not just Chinese toys, but Indian toys which are the culprit too.
Welcoming the recent ban on the import of Chinese toys, city doctors and health experts said there was an urgent need to regulate Indian toys as well since as they too contained lead and cadmium, elements which could remain in one’s system for over two decades.
Citing a study conducted in 2006, Dr Abhay Kumar of the Delhi-based
NGO Toxic Links told TOI that they had tested both Indian and Chinese toys in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai and found a high concentration of lead and cadmium. “The lead content for instance was as high as 2,000 ppm as opposed to the permissible limit of 600 ppm,’’ said Dr Kumar. He explained that toy manufacturers often used lead and cadmium as stabilizers in toys, which come into contact with kids’ hands and also enter their system, given the tendency of children to put their fingers in their mouth.
Pointing out that lead is a confirmed neurotoxin (hampers the growing brain of a child), while cadmium is a nephrotoxin (adversely affects the kidney), Kumar said it was important that toy manufacturers adhere to the standards. “While we welcome the recent ban, it is also important that we have mandatory standards for Indian toys.’’ As of now, the only standards existing for toy manufacturers are those set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, which aren’t mandatory.
“The worrying part is that lead and cadmium, whether inhaled or eaten, remain in a person’s system for 20 years,’’ said physician at Jaslok Hospital and retired professor of medicine at state-run JJ Hospital Altaf Patel. He said lead causes intellectual backwardness in children and high blood pressure and aggressiveness in adults.
Mumbai: The colourful building blocks or toy houses might keep your children engaged for hours, but the heavy metals they contain could harm them for life. And it’s not just Chinese toys, but Indian toys which are the culprit too.
Welcoming the recent ban on the import of Chinese toys, city doctors and health experts said there was an urgent need to regulate Indian toys as well since as they too contained lead and cadmium, elements which could remain in one’s system for over two decades.
Citing a study conducted in 2006, Dr Abhay Kumar of the Delhi-based
NGO Toxic Links told TOI that they had tested both Indian and Chinese toys in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai and found a high concentration of lead and cadmium. “The lead content for instance was as high as 2,000 ppm as opposed to the permissible limit of 600 ppm,’’ said Dr Kumar. He explained that toy manufacturers often used lead and cadmium as stabilizers in toys, which come into contact with kids’ hands and also enter their system, given the tendency of children to put their fingers in their mouth.
Pointing out that lead is a confirmed neurotoxin (hampers the growing brain of a child), while cadmium is a nephrotoxin (adversely affects the kidney), Kumar said it was important that toy manufacturers adhere to the standards. “While we welcome the recent ban, it is also important that we have mandatory standards for Indian toys.’’ As of now, the only standards existing for toy manufacturers are those set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, which aren’t mandatory.
“The worrying part is that lead and cadmium, whether inhaled or eaten, remain in a person’s system for 20 years,’’ said physician at Jaslok Hospital and retired professor of medicine at state-run JJ Hospital Altaf Patel. He said lead causes intellectual backwardness in children and high blood pressure and aggressiveness in adults.
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